Alaskan Adventure 2015

The second leg of my trip to the US was to Alaska. Alaska offers unique opportunities to capture some amazing wildlife images. As well as visiting the Anchorage area we spent four days photographing Brown Bears at Brooks River, Katmai National Park.

Katmai lies some two hundred and fifty miles southwest of Anchorage, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay area. Each year millions of salmon burst from the Bering Sea into the lakes and streams of the area. These fish provide a food source for the world’s largest population of brown bears. As many as fifty bears can be seen fishing along the mile and a half long Brooks River during the peak of the salmon season. The bears fish for salmon as they negotiate the rapids and falls of the Brooks River.

Brown Bears at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park, Alaska

Along the river is a series of high level platforms that offer great views of where the Coastal Brown Bears come to feed on the salmon as they head upstream to spawn. The bears are adept at fishing with the more dominant bears selecting locations where the salmon attempt to leap the falls.

Brown Bear Fishing, Brooks River Falls

Some of the fish succeed while others fail as they find themselves leaping straight into the jaws of a waiting bear.

Into the jaws of a Brown Bear, Brooks River Falls

While adult bears are quite adept at catching the fish the subadults are less skilled. This lack of skill provided some fun moments as the young bears raced across the river trying to chase down a fish that was almost certainly long gone.

Subadult Brown Bear Chasing Fish, Brooks River

Having completed the Brooks Lodge aspect of the trip we travelled to Homer for a few days in search of the majestic Bald Eagle, the iconic symbol of the United States of America. Homer is perhaps the best location in North America to find and photograph these majestic birds.

Bald Eagle in Flight, Deep Creek Beach, Kenai Peninsula

In addition to adult birds we came across large numbers of juveniles. Photographing these was lots of fun as they practised various flight manoeuvres.

Juvenile Bald Eagles in Flight, Deep Creek Beach, Kenai Peninsula

Homer is on the shore of Kachemak Bay on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its distinguishing feature is the Homer Spit, a narrow 4.5 mile long gravel bar that extends into the bay, on which is located the Homer Harbour. While in Homer we took the opportunity to photograph abandoned boats, cars, buses, etc at sunset.